Product Spotlight on: My Fav TJ’S Frozen Foods as meal prep!

Ingredients

Frozen Roasted Root Veggies

Frozen Grilled Cauliflower

Cilantro Lime Chicken Burgers

Cruciferous Crunch

Seasonal Pepita Salsa

Avocado number to go

Directions

Open Box of frozen burgers. Follow instructions on box and either pan cook, ( my personal fav) or use a sheet pan and cook for 10 in the oven at 400. I love these because they have minimal ingredients, TONS of flavor and pack a protein punch. After cooked I cut each into strips.

Open frozen root veggies, place in microwave bowl and cook for 5 minutes. DONE

Open Cauliflower, place in microwave bowl top with 2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil, microwave for 3-4 minutes. Add Salt and Pepper. Done!

Make it totally Vegetarian or add extra fiber by using 2 cans of drained black beans instead of Carnitas.

Directions

Combine puree, salsa, and ½ CUP broth or water in bowl, add spices and stir set aside

Place carnitas into separate bowl and shred or chop into small pieces add 1- 1 ½ cup of sauce to pork and stir to combine

If using corn tortilla, warm in a pan with oil oil to prevent cracking before rolling, If using flour tortillas feel free to skip that step.
Lets get rolling!

Place 1 cup sauce on bottom of pan

Take 1 tortilla, add 2 rounded TB full of sauced meat, 1 TB cheese and roll up, set inside pan seam side down and repeat *
*Continue rolling until you have used all your filling.

Pour remaining sauce mixture on top of enchiladas. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 20 minutes, after 20 minutes remove foil and sprinkle with ½ – ¾ cup cheese. Bake for 5-10 minutes until cheese has mostly melted.

Today, we made this absolutely delicious pizza, using the new Autumnal Harvest Alfredo Sauce (which we are super excited about!). Also featured in this recipe is the old standard: the fresh whole wheat pizza dough. Topping things off with broccolini, pancetta, mushrooms, roasted Brussels sprouts and fresh mozzarella balls, this pizza is a delicious fall treat!

Directions

Remove whole wheat dough from bag, onto floured surface. Let come to room temp for about 20 minutes. In the mean time, prepare ingredients and pre-heat your oven to 450˚F.

In a small skillet or sauce pan, over medium heat, combine pancetta and mushrooms and cook until crispy, about 5 minutes.

Work the dough in your hands, knead a little bit and then let gravity do the work to expand your dough. I love using a silat (or a silicone baking mat) to spread my dough out on. Once you have your dough to the desired shape, spread out harvest Alfredo sauce on top, then layer the pancetta and mushrooms, roasted Brussels sprouts broccolini and then finally the fresh mozzarella balls. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake for 10-12 minutes. After 12 minutes, we turned the broiler on low and watched the cheese get a little extra crispy.

What can we say, except…[You’re] Welcome! This week, we celebrate all foods Ryan Haringa, our favorite demi-god amongst men! He sings, he acts, he’s intelligent… Okay, mostly we’re just obsessed withi his perfect abs. Marie got her hands on Ryan’s meal plan, and this week she and Amanda are setting out to get a “Body by Ryan” by cooking the things he eats every day: ground turkey, spinach, bell peppers, and…Peanut M&Ms*?

*Peanut M&Ms not available at Trader Joe’s. Discover the answer to this dilemma and more, by watching now.

Following a diet plan that called for rock solid abs meant that Amanda’s refrigerator was full of healthy ingredients. Unfortunately, it was stocked with the same items that Marie brought (thus the spite bag reference).

But with most reducing diets, when you deprive yourself and restrict calories, you usually start to crave high fat, high sugar and generally unhealthy foods…which you’ll see in action in this episode. We don’t know how Ryan does it! (must be those daily 6 MnM’s! and One Bars!

Ingredients featured in this week’s episode:

Couple notes about the meals we prepared:

The zoodles were great. When we make this again, we’ll use a leaner ground turkey. The additional fat adds a great mouthfeel and flavor, but we would use a little extra heart healthy olive oil instead.

When you make zoodle bowls, add the zucchini at the very end. The longer they cook, the more fluid they release and turn mushy. We suggest you add the zucchini and parmesan, then turn the burner off. Top with cheese and put in the broiler for a minimal amount of time. The zucchini will soften enough with the other hot foods in the pan and in the oven.

We added protein powder to our ice cream. It tasted pretty good, but didn’t last in the freezer. Not because we ate it all, but because it solidified to a point it was inedible. If you choose to do this, we suggest eating within the hour of making or enjoy as a milkshake.

Directions

In the same pan, add olive oil. Once hot, add in peppers and sauté for a few minutes. Once soft, add spinach and let cook for another minute. Add in hummus.

At the last minute, turn off burner and stir in zucchini noodles and parmesan. Top with Quattro fromaggio cheese and place in the broiler (low) for a few minutes (watch closely). Remove and top with parsley and serve.

Here at the Fearless Flying Kitchen, we just love strapping on our sneakers and running for a ridiculously long time. In order to do that though, you need to fuel your your body with enough energy to keep you going. Most runners rely on simple, easily digested carbohydrates to help provide the energy that is needed on long runs. Runners also need to focus on hydration, both from water and also replacing electrolytes (like sodium and potassium) that are lost in sweat, which help with water retention.

Most runners are familiar with the brands of runner’s food, like Stinger, Gu, Gatorade, etc. and while they are definitely a part of our running fuel plan, we sometimes like to think (and eat) outside the box. However, we went on a mission at Trader Joe’s to find fuel for runs, as well as great foods for pre and post workouts.

Caramel Bites (Stroopwafels)

These delicious mini-waffles filled with caramel come from Holland. They are very similar to the Honey Stinger Waffle brand products and are easily digestible. We love having these as pre-race fuel, about 15-30 minutes before a long run.

19 Cent Bananas!

Bananas at Trader Joe’s are a steal! You really can’t beat the price at 19 cents per banana. Granted, most races provide bananas at the finish line, this is a great item to have on hand at home to give your body a boost of potassium.

Scandinavian Swimmers

One of our favorite treats, both on the road and off. At least when we are running, our bodies are using them immediately. We normally chew on sports beans or gummy bears on long runs when you want something to chew on. This is a great option that doesn’t have artificial colorings or harmful preservatives.

Freeze Dried Bananas

This is a great, not messy option to bring on the road with you. Lots of sugar, lots of potassium, all quickly absorbed for energy while you are running.

Manzanita Olives

Who here sweats? WE DO! Normally, if you are running in hot weather, or aren’t adapted to conserve sodium, you will likely loose a lot of sodium in your salty sweat. Sodium is very important for runners because it helps retain water, and loosing too much sodium in sweat can upset the fluid balance in your body. This super salty snack is portable in individual packs, perfect for taking on a hot, trail run.

Trail Mix

Healthy fats and sugars and protein – Oh my! We love trail mix for a post-run recovery snack. Trail mix has a nice blend of protein, carbohydrate and fat that will help your body rebuild protein and glycogen stores. Trader Joe’s has so many varieties of Trail Mix to suit your taste buds. When we want a basic and healthy mix, we’ll go with theGo Raw Trek Mix. When we want some chocolate in the mix? Tempting Trail Mix (although not the best for transporting). The best part? Individual bags to take on the go!

Date and Nut Bars

Again with the post run fuel – Very similar nutritionally to trail mix, just blended together into a bar (or, bite) form. This is similar to Lara bars, but with chia seed (Omega 3!)

Beef Jerky

While this might not seem like the best fuel for runners, I find that at around mile 17, the simple carbohydrate fuel just doesn’t settle well in my stomach. I start to crave savory foods and chewing. Beef Jerky is a great option, because it is salty, tastes savory, and you can chew it for a while (you could even spit it out if you really wanted to, but it is so delicious, why?)

Other important things you’ll find on the aisles of Trader Joe’s

Bottled Water – Such a great deal. Comes in a variety of sizes to meet all your hydration needs.

Pasta Noodles (Imported from Italy!) – Pasta is a great way to carb-up the night before a big run. It’s always good to choose something with lots of carbs and not a lot of fat, so a pasta with a marinara sauce is preferential to a pizza loaded with cheese and fatty meats or a macaroni and cheese type of meal.

Honey Nut O’s – This is my favorite pre-long-run breakfast. It’s the only thing that doesn’t disrupt my tummy. However, everyone is different and tolerates foods differently.

This week, we get real rugged with our ode to camping! Full of tin foil dinners, meat granola bars, improvising barware, “postmatesing” liquor and lighting things on fire. Plus grammar and vocabulary lessons (non-camping related). Check out the full episode here!

Ingredients featured in this week’s episode:

In preparation of camping this summer, Amanda tried out her camp cooking skills in the Fearless Flying Kitchen. Although, she doesn’t really ever go camping and thinks you can just throw packets of foil into the open fire (that’s how it works, right?)

We combine sweet and savory with these delicious peach and hatch green Chile foil packets. When we don’t have camping on the brain, we’ll make these again, but without the tin foil (since cooking with aluminum –> ingesting aluminum in your food –> not the best way to prepare meals on the daily) and instead bake in a pyrex dish. When peaches aren’t in season, you could even use canned or frozen (thawed) peaches.

Directions

Preheat oven to 400˚F.

Combine bag of brown rice with can of chiles and microwave for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, dice peach and add to rice and chiles after being microwaved. Add to that mozzarella, salt, pepper, Greek yogurt, and garlic salt.

Get your sheets of foil ready. Add a portion of the rice mixture and top with a couple slices of sausage. Divide all the ingredients evenly between 5 or 6 tin foil sheets. Wrap up and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. OR you could just toss it in a camp fire (we’re assuming this will work?)

If you want to use a pyrex dish, we recommend mixing the sausages in with the rice mixture and placing in an 8X12 glass baking dish and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Directions

Add ingredients to a shaker (or two zoo cups) and cover and shake until combined.

Get a fire source and toast your marshmallow

Get two smaller plates or bowls. Add chocolate syrup to one and crushed graham crackers to the other. Grab a glass and place the rim in the chocolate syrup, then the graham crackers. Strain cocktail into glass. Top with roasted marshmallow.

*You really don’t need this. It is what we did, must most of it stayed with the ice when we strained it. If you really want this to be like dessert, you can put a little vanilla ice cream in your glass after rimming and before straining into it. Or save some fat and calories and leave it out. You won’t miss it.

** We just had a regular vodka, but a flavored vodka would be delicious here too! Try a whipped cream or marshmallow flavor and let us know how it goes in the comments.

This week, Marie and Amanda get the star treatment with the addition of Sound Engineer Jacob! While he introduces us to a higher level of technology, we introduce him to… you guessed it… Simpler Wines! Will our dinner taste better now that we have a bigger microphone? Can a beer-loving Hufflepuff truly appreciate canned wine the way that we do? And what’s all the Happy Dancing for? Be sure to watch to find out!

Ingredients Featured in This Week’s Episode:

We decided that the Pub Cheese tastes kind of like an adult handy-snack. On its own, it is kind of like cheese whiz, but is actually pretty good with honey whole wheat pretzels. Amanda decided to use it in place of ricotta cheese and replaced mozzarella cheese with Mexican cheese. The tomato sauce was more of a chili, and thus was born the southwest take on Eggplant Parmesan.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Peel and slice eggplant. Beat eggs in one bowl. In another, combine maseca and bread crumbs. Get vegetable oil in a large skillet and turn on medium-high. Once oil is hot, drudge each slice of eggplant in eggs, then maseca/breadcrumb mixture, and cook in hot oil until brown on each side. Remove eggplant and place on a paper towel to blot extra oil.

Meanwhile, cook chili mixture by dicing up garlic. Sauté in a separate skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Once onion starts to brown, add soyrizo and ground beef and cook until brown. Add can of tomato sauce and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let cook and develop flavor for another 10 minutes.

When ready to assemble, layer one piece of eggplant, top with about 1 tbsp pub cheese, 1-2 tbsp of the chili mixture and 1 Tbsp Mexican cheese and repeat 1-2 more times. In the episode, we ended here, but we highly recommend assembling these on a baking sheet and placing in the oven for about 10 minutes, so the cheese gets nice and melty and the whole dish warms through. Top with guacamole and sour cream. We served this on a bed of arugula.

We used THIS RECIPE for the chocolate cupcakes from AllRecipes. We adapted it slightly with cutting the sugar down to 1 cup (instead of 1 1/2). We used the cacao powder in the cupcakes and then topped it with a chocolate ganache (basically melted 1 cup chocolate chips with 2 Tbsp half and half and 2 Tbsp butter mixed in) and caramelized bacon (bacon baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes with brown sugar and cinnamon on top).

This week, we go deep into Marie’s Italian roots to make something, kind-of, Italian-ish? None of the ingredients that were provided were very Italian-y, but they all were delicious to eat on their own, and in the dish!

Watch this week’s episode here:

Ingredients Featured in This Week’s Episode:

This week, we dive deep into Marie’s “non-white girl” roots, and make some vegetarian stuffed peppers and take a fun twist on a traditional caprese salad.

The stuffed peppers are full of fiber from the veggies, whole wheat cous cous and black beans, while being packed with flavor from the jalapeño artichoke dip and fragrant cheeses. We both loved the stuffed peppers and preferred the green ones over the yellow (which was a surprise to us both!)

The caprese salad was a slam dunk…if you removed the chocolate. Cherries with Mozzarella and Basil was a delicious flavor combination. The dark chocolate pretzels made things a little weird, so when you make this at home (which you should!) we recommend just saving the pretzels on the side to eat on their own (a perfect dessert!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Rinse bell peppers and slice in half. Remove seeds. Rub all sides with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place bell peppers skin side up on a lined baking sheet (parchment paper or foil). Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add diced onion, celery and carrots. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and cook for a few more minutes. Then add mushrooms, butter, salt, pepper and oregano.

Add 1 1/2 cup of the cooked cous-cous mixture (can save the rest to use as a salad topper), can of black beans, and tomato sauce. Let cook down for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked through. Mix in artichoke & jalapeño dip thoroughly.

Remove roasted bell peppers from the oven. Turn over. Place 1 tbsp of Quattro Fromaggio cheese at the bottom, fill with 1/6 of the filling mixture, then finish with another tbsp of cheese.

Directions

Rinse cherries, pit and halve them, Combine in a bowl with mozzarella balls and basil. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Garnish with balsamic glaze on top.

We added the chocolate covered pretzels as the challenge for this dish, but it definitely didn’t do this beautiful and delicious salad any flavors. We made it again without the pretzels and it was so great. But the pretzels were fantastic on their own!

Head over to our PATREON PAGE to become a patron of Fearless Flying Kitchen and check out outtakes from this week as well as Mr. Critic’s reaction.

Our biggest critic (Amanda’s husband) recently asked, “why can’t you just make something simple, like meat and potatoes?” Here in the Fearless Flying Kitchen, we like to take our fans (and critics) opinions seriously…which is why we have “meat and potatoes week” for all the Bro’s out there.

Ingredients featured in this week’s episode:

This week, we throw Amanda’s husband a solid, by making a meal out of meat, potatoes, “not meat” and “not potatoes.”

We went with a savory brunch for dinner, which we have officially coined as “Brupper” (add that to your urban dictionary!)

The meal’s base is a blend of mashed red and yellow potatoes with frozen mashed cauliflower. The two are blended together with some Parmesan cheese and herbs and spices and formed into a patty (a savory pancake)

The bag of potatoes also came with purple potatoes. We didn’t include these in the mash, because they would have turned it a funky color. Instead, we rinsed and quartered then, added a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper, and put them in the oven to roast at 400 degrees for about a half an hour.

Next up is the soy-chorizo creamed spinach. Full of so much flavor! At this point, if you are a vegetarian (or just don’t like or have steak) you could top with a poached egg for a fun take on an eggs Benedict.

The steak we used in the episode is a little bit tough, and is perfect for braising (cooked with a liquid). We tried to soften it up a bit by pounding and soaking in buttermilk (the acid can help soften the tough meat), but in the end, it still wasn’t the ideal texture. If we had more time in the kitchen, we definitely would have let the meat marinate for a lot longer (or try a different, wet cooking method, like braising).

To finish off the dish, we ended with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Lots of flavor!

Lastly, before you get to these awesome recipes…We did have a bit of a challenge with our new technology (the challenge was that Amanda accidentally deleted all the footage before uploading it), so apologies for the lack of actual cooking footage on the episode. We’ll work it out and make it work for future episodes. Thanks dad for the technology boost!

Directions

Pierce potatoes and place in a microwave safe dish with a tablespoon of water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 6 minutes. Add half the bag of mashed cauliflower, re-cover, and microwave for another 4-6 minutes, until potatoes are soft and cauliflower is no longer frozen. Mash the potatoes and cauliflower together, add egg, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper and mix well. Let cool a little bit and turn on griddle (electric to about 350 or a stovetop griddle to medium-high).

Spray griddle with oil. Take a dollop of potato/cauliflower mixture and flatten into a patty (It will be really sticky, but that’s ok, you can get it mostly there, then continue to flatten with spatula once it is on the griddle ) and place on the hot griddle. Cook on each side for about 4-5 minutes, until it has a nice little brown mark on it.

Directions

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add minced onion and garlic then sauté for about 3-4 minutes. Add soy chorizo and continue to cook for about 5 minutes. Add spinach and let cook down for another 2-3 minutes. Add milk, half and half, and parmesan cheese. Continue to cook over medium-high heat for another couple minutes. Turn off heat and cover until ready to serve.

Buttermilk Steak Medallions

Ingredients

1 lb Sirloin Medallions

1/2 Cup Buttermilk

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 cup flour

1/2 Vegetable Oil

Directions

Pound sirloin steak tips with a mallet to tenderize and flatten. Place in a ziplock bag with buttermilk, garlic powder, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Squeeze air out of ziplock, seal, and place in refrigerator for at least a half an hour (longer preferred).

When ready to cook, take steak out of ziplock, season each side with additional salt and pepper, and drudge through flour. Place oil in a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Once hot (will sizzle when something is placed in skillet), then add flour coated steak medallions. Cook for a few minutes on each side (you want it to be brown and crispy on the outside.

A couple weeks ago, I shared some ideas for meal prep that was so easy, you could do it Monday morning instead of slaving away on Sundays.

This week we have a nutrient packed salad that is loaded with robust flavors, and a ton of fiber and protein.

We start with a bed of Arugula, which is a peppery type of green (an also one of my favorites to use in salads). Then we put a layer of shaved Brussels sprouts, pre-cooked lentils, roasted beets, and blue cheese.

If you’re a vegetarian, you can stop there, or if you are looking for a bit more protein, you can top with just chicken. For extra color and a pop of a bold flavor, you can add chopped fresh basil to the top.

All these ingredients were divided evenly in five containers, one for each day of the week. I only used a fraction of the blue cheese for the five salads, probably 1-2 Tbsp per salad. The thing I like about bold cheeses, like blue, feta, parmesan and goat, are that a little goes a long way!

The chicken only went into three of the salads (due to the expiration date coding), so I also picked up some fresh chicken to bake up on Wednesday and use part of it for lunches on Thursday/Friday, and eat part of it for dinner Wednesday night.

This week, I paired the salad with our old stand-by, the Tuscan Italian dressing. If we were having this at home, I would just toss it with a little bit of olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper.

Super simple, fresh ingredients, lots of flavor, and really easy to assemble. It will take a max of 10 minutes. What else can go in your lunch? A handful of your favorite nuts for a snack. Fresh fruit (there are so many to choose from these days). Baby carrots or sliced celery or cucumbers.

Directions

Divide all ingredients evenly into five containers in the order listed. Cover and store for up to a week. Note that the “Just Chicken” has a limited “sell by” date. You can divide one package between three of the salads and then purchase another package mid-week, or just have the other two salads be meat-free.

Looking for Amanda’s Nutrition Website?

Disclaimers:

The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.